Factories are: Perfumes with the smell of metal, concrete and gasoline
Text: Ksenia Golovanova, author of the telegram channel Nose Republic
Contrary to the notions that you can make on the basis of travels on the assortment of chain stores, not all perfumes tend to embody "natural" flavors. The most interesting segment is the allegorical smells, among which you can find aromas of blood and sperm, childhood, first love and apocalypse. At our request, perfumery critic Ksenia Golovanova collected bottles, the contents of which glorify the beauty of the industrial world: for all who secretly love the smell of gasoline and plastic.
Concrete, Comme des Garçons parfums
11 000 rub. for 80 ml in the store "Riv Gosh Color"
Here it is, the culprit of our small industrial celebration - "Concrete", which, contrary to the name, most likely smells like tea masala, firmly brewed in a large aluminum kettle. Sandalwood gives the composition its characteristic sweet creaminess, rosenoxide, a component of the essential oil of the rose, a pronounced metallic flavor with a ring of flowers, cardamom and cloves, a gastronomic spice. A cumin - a slight shade of sweat: the builders decided to relax on the rafters with a cup of tea.
Nuit de Bakélite, Naomi Goodsir
10 900 rub. for 50 ml in Cosmotheca stores
If you do not like tuberose, then you, firstly, are in the minority - because now everyone loves and makes her, and secondly, you can unknowingly pass by one of the most original perfumery launches of the year. Tuberose in Nuit de Bakélite is not similar to itself: instead of white flowers smelling of coconut, blood and rubber, you are poured on emerald greens, giving eucalyptus juice of its stems and green tar.
This cold, slightly poisonous smell was skillfully instilled in the title material - bakelite, the world's first fully synthetic plastic, from which everything was produced in the 1960s, except mini-skirts. Anyone who has been on the European “flaps” and was holding a bakelite phone in his hands, will remember how it smells - a little smoky, inky plastic. Cold greens and plastic go together: it seems as if you are at the orbital biostation where flowers are grown for earth colonists.
Kerbside Violet, Lush
1480 rub. for 10 ml
In the eyes (noses?) Of most perfumers, the title flower is the material from the universe, which Blok described in detail in his “Night violet”: there is a forest, “swamp sleep”, everything is purple-green and zelisty. Violets are such an interpretation - forest, partly fabulous. But the “city”, as we understand from the example of Kerbside Violet, is also: this violet broke through the asphalt, took a sip of exhaust fumes and, contrary to circumstances, blossomed under the heels of real estate agents.
Laine de Verre, Serge Lutens
9500 rub. for 100 ml
The main claim to the glass wool is as follows: “It doesn’t look like Lutans”. Indeed, the classic Lutans is sultry desert winds with armfuls of spices and dried fruit, or old shady forests with thick undercoat and black, oily organic matter. Here, pure synthetic, and "pure" - the key word: Laine de Verre opens with a wave of soap and ice aldehydes, which really resemble spiky glass fibers and even seem to slightly scratch the nose. Next - the phantom pains of the perfumer in nature: they give a little pale rose and strange greenery, but everything is covered by a wave of beautiful musk that has been ironed along the seams. In short - the smell of luxury laundry, where allowed for membership cards.
Rien Intense Incense, État Libre d'Orange
12 000 rub. for 100 ml
The first Rien (appreciate humor: the name translates as “nothing” from French) came out in 2006 - bitter, wicked, poisonous green skin with a half-life, exactly like plutonium-239 - and made a strong impression on the perfumery community. Barely everyone had moved away a bit - by about 2014, when the last Rien molecules had left scarves and woolen coat collars - as ELDO reported the release of the flanker, a “more powerful version of Rien” for the strong in spirit. And what a spirit turned out: great aldehyde leather, fumigated with incense and gasoline vapors. That should be the smell in the temple of the Warriors of Mad Max, who worship everything mechanical: engine, soot, leather steering wheel.
Gosha Rubchinskiy, Comme des Garçons parfums
5900 rub. for 100 ml
"Gosh" is a dry green scent with an unexpected, like a sap in a pioneer camp, a peppermint chord at the beginning. The latter resembles an expensive herbal gum, which is sold at the checkout in the “Alphabet of Taste” and invigorates no worse than espresso, but at the same time bitter leaves in the mouth a strange organic freshness - as if chewing leaves in the park under the windows. Under the same trees they dissect them on skates: they pull with rubber, wood boards and blooming water of the urban river.
XX Latex, Uermi
9000 rub. for 75 ml
The Italian brand Uermi exists within the framework of a rigid concept: all its fragrances are devoted to the materials from which clothes are made (the brand name is the stylized English "wear me", "put on me"). Especially good is their "Latex", a fantasy on the theme of rubberized lilac and salt, speaking on the skin. It may be that the Russian premiere of the new “Blade Runner 2049” is soon, but, having smelled Latex, you think that replicants of the new generation should use such spirits.
Asphalt Rainbow, Charenton Macerations
$ 100 for 30 ml
Charenton Macerations is a Brooklyn indie brand founded by chemist Douglas Bender in 2012, that is, by the standards of modern perfumery, an eternity ago. Since then, the brand has only three flavors (for which a special thank you), including Asphalt Rainbow - New York graffiti smelling, which, however, is more ambitious than the idea: this is a dedication to a big city, a full-fledged novelty in some "New York , I love you". What smells like: wet cement and rusty metal, a metal rose and an ancient leather sofa exposed to soak in the rain outside, hot dog foil and fruit debris in Chinatown.
Metal Hurlant, Parfumerie Générale
15 800 rubles for 100 ml
Pierre Guillaume, a perfumer who had a hand on a gourmet long before it became fashionable, released Collection Croisière a couple of years ago, which everyone immediately called a new, cool reading of the hateful aquatic theme. However, Guillaume drove the water horse quickly and started on other genres: Metal Hurlant is a rough skin, whose dressing is a matter of many years in the saddle of a motorcycle, and not some special tanning tricks. Sooner or later the carefree rider will take off the jacket (or pants), and then strong musk and other pleasant and not quite decent animalica will be nailed to the smell of the skin.
Photo: Dover Street Market, Pudra, Lucky Scent, Lush, Ile de Beaute, Storm Fashion, Ainz, Charenton Macerations, Parfum Dreams